Wednesday, March 24, 2010

K Street Plan #4,398

At this point, for those of us who have been here since the beginning—when K Street was still a great main street everyone enjoyed—this continuing bumbly-fumbly attempt to do something about it that actually has people wanting to be there, has become one of those endless metro dramas that almost doesn't make much difference anymore; though we must say, that hope does spring eternal, that some day, some way, Sacramento will have a downtown we can all be proud of.

“Four proposals to revamp the K Street Mall released Monday range from a subtle infusion of retail and housing to a near total remake of the downtown corridor.

“All the development teams told the city they could begin site work by next year. Financing details remained vague, however.

“The City Council is expected to vote in mid-May on which team it wants city staff to work with.

“City officials hope that this round of proposals produces some concrete results in a bleak stretch of turf that includes several demolished and many vacant buildings.

“In the past decade, the city spent $40 million to buy roughly a dozen properties for another development plan. This plan, led by Southern California furniture retailer Joe Zeiden, fell apart after the city spent four years haggling with one major property owner and the economy soured.

“Mayor Kevin Johnson Monday said it will pay off for the city to have those parcels in the bank. Thanks to those acquisitions, he said, "downtown and the J, K, L corridor is a gold mine."

This blog is part of the ongoing work of the American River Parkway Preservation Society to provide public education and advocacy around public policy issues that may be related to the Parkway and the adjacent communities along the American River in Sacramento, California.